The Vault Dweller's Story
by TBG
Summary: A young man is chosen to be the savior of his people. Elements of "Mary Sue." Anonymous reviews now enabled.


Hello, and welcome to my little fanfic. A friend of mine inspired me to write a fanfic of my own after he referred me to his Final Fantasy Tactics fanfic. I hope you enjoy my work : )  
  
Blah blah blah... Legal disclaimer crap. I do not own any characters (Except ones I invent). Blah blah blah. Liberties have been taken with certain character's personalities for various reasons.  
  
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Interior. A wide, brightly lit hallway with several steel doors on both sides, all inscribed with the number "13". At the end, the hallway connects with an elevator   
  
Silence... And then...  
  
With a hushed *whoosh* the vault elevator arrives at level 3. The door opens silently to reveal a medium framed, fair haired young man in his late teens, wearing the ubiquitous blue and yellow jumpsuit common to all who dwell in Vault 13. The young man stepped out of the elevator into the wide vault hallway. He started forward at a slow pace and began to reflect on current events...  
  
"The Overseer looked pretty concerned at the last meeting. Usually he just gives us our monthly mission statement. Which was always the same, of course. Make sure all equipment is in working order, repair as necessary, and count the remaining supplies."  
  
The young man had to admit that the vault was holding up well, despite its near 80 years of constant use. Moving forward slowly, he reflected further.  
  
"But last time was different. He spoke hastily, eventually telling us that there was a certain problem that needed swift reconciliation. He said that he would reveal the nature of the situation to the rest of the inhabitants in due time. Now, a week later, I get called down from my bunk to meet the Overseer privately."  
  
Seeing the overseer personally was a rare event. The business of running the vault took up a great deal of his time, and it was quite obvious he resented having to take out any more of it for anybody. A request for a personal visit was usually a sign you were in serious trouble. The fact that the 7 foot tall chair the Overseer sat on was equipped with dual miniguns didn't serve to ease tensions any.  
  
Nonetheless, the young man resolved to not let this bother him. He could hardly think of a reason the Overseer would want to see HIM specifically, but it was far more likely that his expertise was needed in some matter, than the Overseer wanted murder him in the control room. The young man had a knack for repairing equipment, and was regarded as the go-to-guy when it came to electronic and scientific matters. The young man had gone to see the Overseer once before, but that was an entirely different matter  
  
A moment later, the young man rounded the end of the hallway, heading to his left, towards the command center. As soon as he rounded the corner, he stopped in mild surprise. The Overseer spoke before he could.  
  
"Ah. You're here. Good. We've got a problem. A big one..."  
  
The Overseer would best be described as a smallish, aged man with extremely light hair. His diminutive appearance and old age did not serve to lower people's perceptions of him, though. He had been a respected vault leader since he first took the position over 40 years ago. Now, there was a look of extreme worry in his old blue eyes.  
  
The Overseer motioned for the young man to follow him into the command center, past the vault's sole armed guard who eyed the young man suspiciously, leading him over to a small group of large maintenance computers. The young man knew that these were responsible for regulating all of the vault's important functions. He noticed one appeared to be turned off.  
  
"Here is the problem."  
  
The Overseer opened a small panel in the front of the large terminal. There was a jumble of wires and circuitry, with one large, conspicuous computer chip with a few vacuum tubes.  
  
"Remove that." The Overseer ordered, pointing at the chip.  
  
Stooping over and reaching inside, the young man removed the chip with an audible *click*. He then examined it closer. It appeared to be a non- descript bit of circuitry.  
  
"I've never worked with this specific machine... what is this?"  
  
The Overseer got right to the point.  
  
"The controller chip for our water purification system... has given up the ghost. We can't make another one, and the process is too complicated for a work around. Simply put, were running out of drinking water... You've got to go find us another controller chip."  
  
The young man took a moment to wrap his brain around the enormity of that statement. The response he came up with adequately summed up his feelings.  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
"Listen, we don't have much time to spare..."  
  
The Overseer motioned the young man to follow him over to the door with the armed guard.  
  
"What if I refuse?"  
  
"The choice is not yours to make. There are too many lives at stake. If we do not get a replacement chip, the vault will eventually deplete its of stores of fresh water. We won't be able to drink any of the water pumped up without it, the water table is irradiated. And we certainly can't relocate. Few here have the necessary skills to survive outside the vault..."  
  
"Well, why exactly do you want ME? I'm certainly not the toughest person in the vault..."  
  
"We have already taken that into account... Follow me..."  
  
The Overseer motioned towards the vault's weapons locker, which the guard was watching over. The Overseer eyed the guard. He nodded, and opened the door he wordlessly. He entered, followed by the Overseer, and then the young man. As soon as he entered the room, shock overcame the young man. There was a decapitated, bloodied corpse on the floor, the remains of an incredibly well built man of about 6'5", with brain matter and skull fragments splattered all around. The young man blinked, pointed at the corpse, and mumbled...  
  
"He... he."  
  
"He was Maxwell Stone. Our first choice. Long story short, we were teaching him to operate and maintain his gun. Then he looked strait down the barrel and... Well, I guess I don't need to explain the rest."  
  
"And now that he's dead, you want me to make the journey in his place?"  
  
"Exactly. We were originally going to select the toughest, strongest person we could for this most important journey. We thought he was physically well equipped for the task. But it seems his lack of skill and common sense would have eventually been his undoing. That is why we have selected you, for our second choice."  
  
"I see..."  
  
"We have examined the personnel files of many vault inhabitants. You, out of all available choices, were determined to be our overall best hope. Additionally, you're one of the few people besides myself and Frank here who have training with a firearm."  
  
"Yes..."  
  
The young man recalled that he was briefly assigned to be the security guard for the same weapons locker Frank was currently watching over, the purpose of his one previous personal visit to the Overseer. He quit just two days into the job, deciding that a career of ordering people around and brandishing weapons was not for him.  
  
"So, you realize I must request... no ORDER you to accept this mission."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Good, follow me."  
  
The Overseer led the young man out of the weapons storage room into the supplies room on the same level. The Overseer opened the first locker and withdrew some 2 pillboxes, one labeled "Mentats", and the other "Buffout". The Overseer then approached the second locker, withdrew 4 stimpacks and a first aid kit. On to the third locker, where the Overseer withdrew a set of lockpics. And from the fourth locker, the Overseer withdrew the final item. It was a small, wristwatch like device that didn't appear to have aged well. Several wires were coming out of it. The Overseer then handed all of these items to the young man.  
  
"A PipBoy 2000..." The young man said. He checked it out a bit, eventually finding the date. 20 Dec 2160.  
  
"Yes, it is equipped with several important functions. Firstly, it has a mapping function to tell you where you have explored, as well as keep track of important locations. It can also store information transferred from holodisks, as well as any important notes you may need to keep. It has 16 Megs of read only memory, so it should be able to store more information than you should ever need. Now... lets outfit you with a firearm..."  
  
The Overseer led the young man back the weapons storage room. The corpse was still there, but he did his best to ignore it.  
  
"I just hope I make it through this alive."  
  
The Overseer selected a single action colt sidearm, with a little extra JHP and AP ammo, and handed it to the young man.  
  
"This is all the defense we can spare. We can never be sure our home is safe from attack. Now, I want you to head over to the library and do a little bit of last minute research on how to take care of yourself on the outside before you leave. Once you are finished, meet me at the entrance."  
  
"I'm leaving already?"  
  
"Yes, I told you, we do not have a lot of time to waste. Fetching a new chip is a task of the utmost urgency. Now go! I have to prepare the vault for your departure."  
  
And so the young man made his way down the hallway, past the supplies locker towards the library. Once there, the young man ran through a program that gave him a quick synopsis of what to expect in the outside world.  
  
"Hmm... Beware of radiation... Well, obviously... Be prepared to defend yourself from potential hostiles... Don't drink from standing pools of water... If you are to kill an animal for food, be sure to thoroughly cook it... This thing is worthless! Whatever."  
  
Just as he was shutting down the terminal, the young man heard the vault intercom crack to life.  
  
"All vault personnel! Report to your bunks! Wait there for further instructions!"  
  
That's my cue...  
  
And with that, the young man made his way back through the wide hallway, back to the elevator, and up to level 1. He exited the elevator, and walked through the short hallway towards THE DOOR. It was just the inner door, nothing compared to the great steel cog on the outside, which kept the vault separated from the outside world. But, according to vault legend, this door had never once been opened since the sealing over 80 years ago. The Overseer was waiting for him right in front of it.  
  
"I wanted to make sure that there wouldn't be an uproar when you left, so I had all personnel report to their living quarters... I'll tell them all about the situation in a couple of hours... We'll have to clean up the body too..."  
  
"All right."  
  
"We marked your map with the location of another vault, not a bad place to start I think..." The Overseer sighed, "Look, just be safe, ok?" And with that, he pushed a large button on the door's side panel. With a great mechanical heave, the door opened, revealing the air lock between the inner door and the great steel cog.  
  
The young man was just about to step inside, when the Overseer stopped him.  
  
"Boy, i'm just about to send you out of the vault, and I realize I forgot your name. What IS your name, son?"  
  
The young man turned to the overseer.  
  
"Brian. My name is Brian."  
  
"Ah... well. Be safe then, Brian. And good luck."  
  
Brian then walked forwards into the air lock, and the door shut behind him. The Overseer was motionless for a moment, then made his way back down to the command center on level 3. He climbed up into his command chair, and then spoke to his nearby aides, a young woman, whom he had instructed to stay put.  
  
"Now it is prepared. I want you to go fetch Mel. He shall to be our failsafe. Now hurry."  
  
The woman's face paled noticeably at the mention of that name. With a "Y...yes." she was on her way.  
  
The Overseer leaned back and relaxed in his command chair. He'd had enough of these peons for one day. Now he'd just have to put up with one more...  
  
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R/R Plz.  
  
Be kind but critical 


End file.
